Understanding Advocacy for Children and Young People by Jane Boylan
Anne Crowley, Assistant Director (Policy and Research), Save the Children UK
This book is a serious read for anyone interested in the development of children's rights and advocacy. It has been thoroughly researched by two of the most highly respected commentators on the subject, and represents an authoritative and comprehensive guide. I would especially commend it to policy makers as providing a realistic account of what sometimes prevents good children's rights and advocacy practice, and for tackling very real and contentious issues such as 'best interest' principles getting in the way of giving full expression of children's own views.
Mike Lindsay, National Co-ordinator of Children's Rights Alliance for England
The authors of this most instructive new book see the 'radical potential' of advocacy to promote the voice and agency of the young ... This is a significant book ... It should prove useful to students of social work, law, and pre-eminently of children's rights. It is not an easy read, but it is well worth engaging with.
Children and Society, Vol 24. 2010
Presenting children and young people's advocacy as an exciting, radical and constantly developing way of working, Boylan and Dalrymple explore its controversial and challenging nature through a comprehensive examination of the theory and practice of advocacy. Readers are invited to consider advocacy as a powerful tool for promoting change in attitudes towards children and young people. The development of meaningful participation in decision making and systemic change in the provision of services for children and young people is identified as key to this process.
While advocacy now has a higher profile within health, welfare and education services, the authors argue for critical engagement with the dilemmas and paradoxes it continues to present. More traditional ways of advocacy practice are evaluated alongside newer approaches such as non-instructed advocacy and e-advocacy. Key issues explored include:
- An historical overview of advocacy within professional practice
- The development of independent advocacy
- The contested nature of advocacy
- Children and young people's participation
- Forms and models for the provision of advocacy
- The relationship between advocacy and anti-oppressive practice
Understanding Advocacy for Children and Young People is an essential text for advocates and professionals working with children and young people. It is also suitable as a key resource for health and social care practitioners, educators, commissioners and policy makers.